Communication Outlets

Hi,
I'm new, but I had a question (main reason I came here) hopefully I got it in the right spot.

I'm trying to future proof my house as I remodel, which I know its not possible but I can try. I'm running conduit in the walls for communication items (Phone, Ethernet, TV). While the conduit will make it easier to re run stuff if I need, I would rather set it up so that I don't have to do something any time soon.

Now my question is how many tv plugs should I install at each outlet? The reason I'm asking is because older DVRs, DirecTv, etc used to require two outlets if it was dual tunner, how ever now it seems like they only need one. Any reason to install two for the future?

Thanks

Wires are sometimes pulled through conduit with a pull string. Sometimes I pull a string with the wires and leave it in there in case I need to pull another wire down the road.

Strings are great for the future if you think you'll be adding something but don't know what it might be yet. When you tie a new cable onto the string, just make sure you tie a new string on, if your conduit has the space to keep adding. Without a string, fiberglass fish tape can be used, but a regular DIYer probably won't have that tool.

Thank you for the string tips, its a great ideal. But any advice on if two lines instead of one is need for tv?

That's what we are trying to tell you. If it looks like only one cable is required for today's technology then just run one. If that changes you'll have a string to pull another.

Earlier versions of satellite TV used two coax cables. Now satellite and cable use just one. If you want to future proof I would home run everything to a central location. By home running the coax to a central point you can reduce the need to have daisy chained splitters on the coax runs, that is the biggest signal killer out there. One 8x1 splitter is way better than several 1x4's. Coax, ethernet (cat 5+) and phone. Even if you don't want to put a TV or a computer in a given room run the cables. That said, more and more stuff will connect via WiFi so you won't have to have a physical cable everywhere. If your house is large you may want to have two WiFi routers to give you better coverage. I have one in my bonus room on the second floor and one in the kitchen on the first. I get a solid signal throughout my 2500+ square feet of conditioned living space and good coverage in my basement and around the yard.

If you're going to have a bunch of equipment for your entertainment zone run a larger conduit from the cabinet area to the TV mount area. Have several HDMI cables, Coax, and Ethernet running to the TV set. That will cover everything. Modern cable boxes use HDMI for the best picture, Coax or component cables as a second choice. So the coax from the cable box to the TV is probably redundant. BluRay uses HDMI, VCRs are pretty much obsolete so I wouldn't base any decisions on that technology coming back, same with a DVD player. BluRay as part of a gaming system and streaming are where the industry is going.

kok328 said:

That's what we are trying to tell you. If it looks like only one cable is required for today's technology then just run one. If that changes you'll have a string to pull another.

Click to expand...

See I'm a little dense, now that you spelled it out, that makes it a little easier to understand.

Sparky617 said:

Earlier versions of satellite TV used two coax cables. Now satellite and cable use just one. If you want to future proof I would home run everything to a central location. By home running the coax to a central point you can reduce the need to have daisy chained splitters on the coax runs, that is the biggest signal killer out there. One 8x1 splitter is way better than several 1x4's. Coax, ethernet (cat 5+) and phone. Even if you don't want to put a TV or a computer in a given room run the cables. That said, more and more stuff will connect via WiFi so you won't have to have a physical cable everywhere. If your house is large you may want to have two WiFi routers to give you better coverage. I have one in my bonus room on the second floor and one in the kitchen on the first. I get a solid signal throughout my 2500+ square feet of conditioned living space and good coverage in my basement and around the yard.

Click to expand...

I'm actually a little anti-WiFi. well not really, I like Wifi for things that move, but if stuff stays put I'd rather have a wired connection. In my current setup I actually have three access points, one on each end, and then one in the middle of my house, they are hung high on the wall of the basement and give super good 2.4 signal any where. The 5.0 you can still find places where you don't have all bars.

Thanks all for the help.

Run extra Cat6 cable if you can. Almost everything else is near obsolete already. HDMI cables tend to be difficult to pull because of the connectors, so you could put a spare in places that require it.